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Senator John Flanagan (2nd Senate District), along with his colleagues in the Senate Republican Conference, has launched a statewide, grass-roots petition drive to restore the STAR property tax relief rebate check program. The program, which was very beneficial to Long Island families, was cut during the Democratically-controlled budget negotiations.

The petition drive will attempt to pressure Democratic lawmakers to restore the rebate checks that they eliminated as part of the recently-enacted State budget.

“The American dream of owning a home is quickly becoming unreachable for many Long Islanders and the state needs to provide relief when possible. For many, this program provided them with the ability to decide how to use their own money and it should be restored immediately,” stated Senator Flanagan. The STAR property tax rebate program was initiated in 2006 by Senate Republicans to provide a yearly check mailed directly to homeowners to ease the burden of skyrocketing property taxes. Senator Flanagan and his colleagues attempted to amend the budget to restore the $1.45 billion tax relief program in March. But those efforts were defeated when Senate Democrats, including those from Long Island, voted together to defeat the amendment.

Now, Senator Flanagan and his colleagues are renewing their efforts to restore this important tax relief program to help deliver $368.64 million in relief to Long Island homeowners. To join Senator Flanagan in this effort, please click here to sign this petition via the Internet. If you would like a hard copy of the petition, please click here for a printable version of the petition.

"While some have talked about restoring this tax relief, the time is now to actually do the right thing. The Democrats who control every part of our state failed to listen during the budget process and now we need everyone’s help to make sure that Long Islanders get the relief they need now,” stated Senator Flanagan.